Heartbeat
by Bobadoo
Summary: There were few things in life Kozik regretted. Actually, there were only two. One was Missy and the other was the woman standing before him. She had no idea who he was but he knew everything about her, unfortunately. Kozik/OC.
1. Prologue

Holy crap, what am I doing to myself. This season has got me going crazy with stories. Let's hope I can keep up with them all. This is short, just a little intro to something bigger. I hope you guys find it interesting. I'm trying to take a more serious, independent story approach to my fanfictions.

Thanks to the lovely **DestinyLynn17** for looking over this and discussing it all with me. It's great to have someone to share this stuff with otherwise I might explode.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NOTE: I hear this part is a little confusing. It's supposed to be. It's a flashforward. Perhaps that makes more sense.

**I do not own Sons of Anarchy. That belongs to Kurt Sutter. ** (That being said, a certain incident in the Call of Duty episode never happened in my mind. I choose my reality! :P)

~~~~**Prologue**~~~~

_I never thought it would end this way._

All she had seen for the past few hours was the inside of the black bag that covered her head. When it was finally ripped off, even the dimmest of light made her squint. There were four of them in the back of the van with her, all wearing interchangeable sour looks on their faces. They were all equally huge and intimidating. One pushed the back doors open, revealing the unlit road passing beneath them at a terrifying rate.

That was when someone grabbed her arms and threw her forward.

_It's not the pain that bothers me. It's not that I've committed the ultimate betrayal and in turn had that inflicted upon me. It's not even that my death will be on his hands. In fact, I have to admit there's something poetic about it in a sick and twisted way._

For one moment, she was weightless. She flew through the cold night air, numbing her body in a matter of moments. Her hair flew about her face, dancing before her eyes, obscuring her view of the full moon above. She felt nothing, remembered nothing. All she had was the sensation of flight and though it lasted only for moments, she found herself able to marvel at it.

Then she hit the ground, her body recalling its sense of touch as her skin scraped across the asphalt. She bounced of its surface several times, a sickening crunch following each. She rolled for what seemed like forever, unable to tell which direction was up and completely incapable of stopping herself. Her body had let go of all control. She was a ragdoll at the mercy of the elements.

_What bothers me is that I could have stopped this. I could have said no but I didn't. Now here I am about to pay for it with my life._

Finally she stopped, her body lying limp across the center of the road. She faced away from the van and could distantly hear it driving off. Her head rested on her right arm, her left somewhere behind her. She could feel blood trailing down her face and her skin burned wherever she had made contact with the road. All over, her body cried out in pain but she ignored it. None of that mattered.

It was what she saw before her that had caught her attention.

_And here at the end, all I can think about is him. The man who made me the way I am today. The one who started it all, or more accurately ruined it all. I should hate him but I don't._

A single beam of light landed on her, coming from the motorcycle that was right on the tail of the van. She stared at it, past it and found herself almost able to look into the eyes of the driver, though she knew it was impossible. They were headed straight for her, their reckless speed making it nearly impossible to veer from their course.

She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, waiting for the end to come.

_I love him._

~~~~**Heartbeat**~~~~


	2. Chapter One

Okay, here is a significantly bigger chapter. Thank you for the reviews and alerts. It means a lot!

And again, thanks to **DestinyLynn17** for listening to me babble on about this!

EDIT: Thanks to **AlxBlack17 **for pointing out that horrible error. Fixed it!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

**Four months earlier...**

April Malloy opened her eyes, suddenly wide awake. For a brief moment she stared at the ceiling, wondering what could have caused such a thing. The house was still, perhaps too much so for a Saturday, and the outside world was quiet, save for the normal sounds of birds chirping just beyond the window. There were no sirens, no signs of a fire and, thankfully, no delighted cries from an overly hyper six year old. This was the kind of morning that found her unwilling to crawl from the comfort of bed. So what was wrong?

She looked over at her left arm as it lay limply on an empty portion of the mattress. Now it all made sense.

The first few nights after the accident had been the hardest. She found herself unable to sleep in the bed. It was too cold, too empty. Instead, she chose to sleep in the closet, wrapped in his favorite work shirts, breathing in his scent. Even then the smells were starting to fade and she had been afraid she would forget them.

_He_ was Curtis Malloy, her husband of three years, now gone for six. She could not remember many details from the night he died. It was dark and raining, the road hardly visible. The police had said their vehicle must have flipped several times but all of that was a dark mass in her memory. According to the report, the SUV had landed on its roof and within a few moments was engulfed in flames. By the time paramedics arrived, it was too late for Curtis but she was alive, unconscious and lying on the side of the road. No one knew who had saved her and no one ever stepped forward.

Eventually she became used to sleeping alone and life got that much easier, but every now and again, the sensation of an empty bed would jolt her awake, her body sensing something missing. That was the case today. However, it was not because Curtis was absent from her side.

Slipping out of bed, April grabbed her robe from the closet and made her way out the door. It was unusually cool that morning. A small tank and shorts were not going to cut.

She paused at the door across from her room, checking on the sleeping boy. As usual, he managed to get completely out of his sheets in the middle of the night and was now sprawled across his mattress. His toys, which she had told him to put away, were strewn all over the floor. April could not help but smile. Jason Malloy was stubborn, just like his daddy.

There was no sign of life in the living room, which confused her. She stared at the empty couch a few moments before entering the kitchen. That was where she found him, asleep across the table, surrounded by legal paperwork. He was snoring softly and still held the coffee cup in his hand.

April shook her head, leaning against the counter. Frederick Milano was a prosecutor for San Joaquin County and was currently locked in a case that had him working at least 20 hours a day, or so it seemed. Every waking moment she saw him, his nose was buried in some kind of paperwork but he would not trade it for the world. It was his goal in life to put gangsters behind bars, which always made her wonder why he had agreed to move to Charming. Then again, he never really seemed to mind the Sons of Anarchy. Ironic really.

As though he could sense her in the room, Frederick stirred, opening his eyes. She smiled and watched him make an attempt to reciprocate. He sat up slowly, one of his papers following as it stuck to his cheek. April could not help but laugh a little as he batted it away. It was during these moments before the weight of the world fell upon his shoulders again that she could see the youthful side of him. Most days he just looked tired, older, his green eyes faded. His once jet black hair was starting to gray faster. While she thought it made him look very sophisticated, she hated that it happened so fast to him.

"Morning," she said quietly. He managed to yawn a response. "How you feeling?"

"Old," Frederick replied flatly, stretching his arms and cracking his back.

"Don't go talking about that. You're only thirty six and I'm not that far behind." April turned around, pulling a pan from the cabinet above her. She began to gather all the ingredients for breakfast. As she cracked a few eggs into the pan, she heard him shuffling toward her. Soon after, his head rested on her shoulder and his arms wrapped around her loosely. While it did not hinder her, she noticed his head was quite heavy on her. She wouldn't have been surprised if he fell asleep again right there.

"One-Niners or Eighty Sixers?" April asked, curious though her voice sounded otherwise.

"Both," he mumbled into her neck. She sighed, accidently breaking one of the yokes. Guess it would be scrambled eggs for them that morning.

"Sounds more like a competition to be Sesame Street's number of the day than a gang war."

That managed to get a chuckle from him, though it was a lifeless one. "Yeah, except Elmo's got a gun." April shook her head. "Too early for Weird Al?"

"Way too early." She felt Frederick nod as he relaxed into her again. They stood that way for the next few minutes as she finished up breakfast. At some point, she could have sworn that he actually had fallen asleep, that was until she heard the sound of small footsteps running down the hall. The little terror had awoken.

"Shit," Frederick said, standing up all the way. April gave him an odd look, wondering what it was all about. He did not say anything about it which was fine because Jason did the instant he stepped through the threshold.

"When are we going to the zoo?"

"Right after breakfast and a shower, bud," he said, sending the little, blonde boy into a frenzy. Jason ran off again, probably to change into his mismatched clothing. Frederick sighed and kissed April on the cheek as he made his way out for a shower.

"You know, you don't have to take him. I can do it if you want," April called after him.

"No, it's your day off, enjoy it!"

"And what about yours?"

"As long as I'm out of that office, I could care less." After that she heard the bedroom door shut and could make out the sound of water turning on. April shook her head. The man never let himself relax, even when he had every right to.

She had met him three years ago, at the grocery store of all places. Jason, who was normally shy around strangers, seemed to take an instant liking to him. And, of course, Frederick didn't have a problem with children. He was a good man, kind and gentle, though he was quite the animal in the courtroom. She had seen him in action once on television. He was like a different man then but he never brought any of that home. Frederick kept them safe, provided for them and loved them both, so of course she had said yes when he proposed a few months earlier.

April took a gander at the ring on her finger. Curtis never gave her a diamond, they just had simple wedding bands, not that she was comparing which was better. They were supposed to be getting married when everything at work calmed down. At this rate, she suspected their engagement would last a very long time. Not that she minded. Marriage was just a word to her; all it really did was make you a widow when your husband died.

Sighing, April turned her attention back to breakfast. It was too beautiful a day to be thinking of such things.

**~~~~ Heartbeat ~~~~**

Tig wasn't sure which was worse: being stuck at the garage with nothing to do except work on cars while his brothers were over in Ireland, probably blowing up shit at that very moment or listening to Kozik shamelessly flirt with the customer whose car he happened to be working on.

"You know, I just can't bring myself to believe that you haven't been on a bike before," he heard Kozik say from out in the lot.

Kozik, definitely Kozik.

From his position under the small convertible, Tig could just make out the Tacoma Sergeant at Arms showing off his signature smile to the small, curvy blonde he had sitting on his motorcycle. It was enough to make him sick.

"Hey asshole!" he shouted, "You ain't stayin for free! Quit flirting and do something useful!"

"Five minutes ago you said I don't work here! Which is it, Tiggy?" Kozik yelled back, putting emphasis on his nickname.

Tig stared silently at the underbelly of the car for a few moments, waiting for the urge to ram his head into it to disappear. He was really asking for it today. It was bad enough Kozik was in Charming but then he had to open his goddamn mouth.

"I'm going to kill him," Tig mumbled, rolling out from under the vehicle. Brother or not, didn't matter. Clay would get over it. That's what he got for leaving the two of them alone. Just as he was about to step out of the garage and give that spiky blonde a beating he would never forget, Tara opened the office door and called for him. Saved by the doctor. Lucky S.O.B.

"Yeah, what is it?" Tig asked, turning around as Tara walked up to him, still dressed in her scrubs.

"There's a woman on the phone for one of you. Said to tell you it's…Mustang Girl?" Tara replied, giving him a very strange look.

Tig smiled. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all. "Thanks, Doc," he said, patting her shoulder as he headed for the office. He took a seat on the cluttered desk, not caring what papers were crunching underneath him, and picked up the phone. "Less than two months, April. Look like you owe me five bucks."

"Hey, I never agreed to the money part of it," the voice on the other end countered.

"You keep telling yourself that, just as long as you hand it over. One bill or a bunch, I don't care which." Tara had entered the office again at this point. She still had the look on her face. Tig had half a mind to tell her it would stay that way but he wasn't in the mood for backlash from two females.

"Something tells me you'd prefer the singles." She knew him well.

"You're a gem, April. A'ight, I'll be over in a few." Hanging up, Tig hopped off the desk and grabbed the keys to the tow truck, feeling Tara's gaze still following him. He looked at her. "What?"

"Mustang Girl?"

"Yeah, she's a regular whose Mustang keeps breaking down. You…you didn't think it was for something else, did you?" He watched the doctor blink then slowly nod. "Tara, I thought you were better than that."

Tara shook her head. "It's not a stretch of the imagination when you're involved."

Tig thought about it a moment, then pointed to her. "Touché."

She glanced to the keys in his hand. "You sure you should be driving?"

"Hey, what Unser doesn't know ain't gonna come back and bite me."

"You sure about that?" Tara asked, placing her hands on her hips. "You know, considering the warpath he's been on."

He hated it when she had a point. "Alright, I'll take one of the prospects."

"Can't. Piney's got them tied up."

"All of them?" Tig sighed when Tara nodded. The old man was doing this on purpose. Watching him and Kozik have at it was probably the best entertainment he'd had in decades. Cursing to himself, Tig stepped out the door and walked across the lot to the tow truck. Kozik was still flirting with the customer, his grin somehow bigger. He suppressed the urge to beat it off his face.

"Kozik! Tow Truck!" Tig shouted at him as he made his way to the passenger's side. He waited a few moments, watching the two lovebirds from the windows. "Now!"

"Cool it, Your Highness! I'm comin'." Kozik said a few more words to the woman, which had her giggling like a schoolgirl, then made his way over to the truck. Tig got inside, putting on his shades and sat, waiting. He hated waiting. After a few moments, Kozik leaned in through the open window. "You know, I can do it by myself. Just give me the location."

Tig turned to him. "And have you chatting her up like you did that blonde bimbo over there? Not a chance in hell. Just get in and drive already."

"So much for being civilized about it," Kozik mumbled as he opened the door and hopped in the driver's seat.

**~~~~ Heartbeat ~~~~**

This was a fantastic day off.

April sighed and leaned against her car, a red 1968 Mustang. It had a tendency of breaking down…often. On more than one occasion she had considered scrapping the thing but every time she started looking for a new one, nostalgia would intervene. This was her father's car, basically the only thing she had left of him after he passed away. Sure, he hadn't exactly taken care of it as well as he should have but he still loved it. For forty years, it was all he drove.

Tossing the keys in the air, April looked over her shoulder at it. "You know, you could have waited until after I got the groceries before you died."

Something in the engine popped in reply. That figured.

When a tow truck that said "Teller-Morrow" pulled up, April smiled, walking across the front lawn to it. Tig stepped out, from the passenger's side oddly enough, and stuck his hand out. "Cough it up." Sighing, April dug in her back pocket and pulled out five dollar bills which she proceeded to shove in his hand. He counted them slowly. "Told ya two months was too long."

She crossed her arms. "Well, maybe if you'd fixed it properly, it would have lasted longer."

"Ouch, April," Tig said, feigning hurt. "Look, it ain't my fault if some cars just wanna die."

"Uh huh." She looked at the tow truck again, noting the blonde man who was taking his time getting out. "Why aren't you driving?

Tig looked at the truck. "You know, I just got sick of it. I drive too much. Needed a break."

"You got your license revoked, didn't you?"

"It's suspended. There's a difference." April nodded, biting her lip to keep her smile from growing too wide. She watched his counterpart walk over to them. At this point, she had met most of the men who worked in the garage, meaning she had met most of the Sons of Anarchy (again, ironic considering who her fiancé was), but this man was someone new. He didn't exactly look like who they referred to as a prospect. He was older and certainly was not awkward like they had been. What stuck out to her were the hair and his height. He was tall but then most men were next to her petite five foot four frame.

"Yeah, sure, take your time, we got all day to do this," Tig said as the man walked up to them. She noted the glare he received and could instantly feel the bad blood between the two. This was certainly going to be interesting.

"You know, I could have just left your ass sitting in that parking lot," the man replied.

Tig took a step closer. "Try it, I dare ya. You'll be back in Tacoma before the boys get back."

"Oookay guys, calm down. Save the anger for later." _Like when you aren't at my house_ she thought, stepping in between them. April looked at Tig first, who nodded but still did not take his glare off of his counterpart. She then turned to the other man, locking eyes with his admittedly beautiful blue ones. For a while, he did nothing. He just stared at her, a very odd look crossing over his face. It was becoming very uncomfortable. She was about to say something to break the silence when he nodded and whispered a small 'yeah.'

"Good," she said, trying not to sound as creeped out as she was. "The name's April by the way. And you are?"

Again, she got nothing from the blonde man. He might have blinked but that may have only been her imagination. She bit her lip, feeling her cheerfulness slip away. Her eyes moved to the ground, if only to get away from his.

"He's not important," Tig said, grabbing her arm. Together they walked over to her Mustang where Tig lifted the hood and did his preliminary examination of sorts. Normally she would have watched intently, hoping it was just a simple solution like tightening a bolt somewhere but not today. She peered over the car just barely, watching the other man. He still stood in the same spot but was starting to react, looking confused and even lost. He ran a hand through his hair, turning around and walking back to the tow truck.

"Is he okay?" April asked, looking down at Tig.

"Really?" he replied, clearly not giving a crap either way. She gave him a look and he sighed, standing up. "What the hell? 'scuse me, April."

She nodded, watching him walk away. The two then engaged in what may have been the most violent quiet argument she had ever seen. Clearly neither of them wanted her to hear anything, though she could pick out the occasional bit of profanity. They did everything but hit each other, which she expected to happen any moment. Tig then returned while the blonde man got into the truck and proceeded to back it into her driveway.

"What was that?" she asked.

"It's nothin', sorry 'bout that," Tig replied, slamming the hood back down, a little harder than she would have liked. "Look, we're gonna take this back to the garage and call you when it's done."

"Yeah, okay," she said with a nod. It only took them a few minutes and then they were gone, driving away with her car. April watched the area where she had last seen them for some time, shaken by the reaction of the other man. He did not look familiar to her in the least and though she racked her brain for some kind of clue of where they might have met, she had nothing. Clearly he knew her, or someone like her, but from where?


End file.
